1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for storing appreciation data such as image data, audio data, and moving image data in a database or the like, to a method and an apparatus for generating order information for carrying out processing on the appreciation data, to a method and an apparatus for carrying out processing such as printing processing on the appreciation data, and to programs that cause a computer to execute the methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image data and moving image data can be obtained by photographing a subject with an image recording device such as a digital camera and a digital camcorder, while audio data can be obtained by using a portable music recording device or the like. Such data for appreciation (hereinafter referred to as appreciation data) can be reproduced and appreciated freely without constraints of time and place, by using the image recording device or the music recording device that obtained the appreciation data (hereinafter referred to as an appreciation data generation apparatus).
Appreciation data obtained by using such an appreciation data generation apparatus are stored in a portable recording medium such as an IC memory, a DV tape, a Memory Stick, and a Smart Media. However, a recording medium has limited storage capacity. Therefore, in the case where a large amount of appreciation data is recorded, it is necessary to back up the appreciation data in a plurality of recording media or in another large-capacity recording medium. As a method of image-data backup, a method of transferring appreciation data via a communication line to external storage separated from an appreciation data generation apparatus has been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-45177). Furthermore, a digital camera, a printer, and a camera station for erasing image data or adding a flag enabling erasure to image data stored in a recording medium after sending the image data to an external data storing apparatus via a communication line have also been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 2000-177210, 2000-184324, and 2000-312325).
However, using a plurality of recording media is costly. In addition, storage of recording media and management of appreciation data recorded therein is troublesome. Furthermore, in the method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-177210, image data in a recording medium are erased after sending the image data to a data storing apparatus. Therefore, in the case where moving image data for 20 minutes need to be recorded by a digital camcorder in a recording medium which can store moving image data for only 10 minutes, the moving image data for the first 10 minutes are recorded and transferred to a data storing apparatus. Thereafter, the moving image data are erased from the recording medium and the moving image data for the second 10 minutes are recorded in the recording medium. In this case, since the recording medium stores only the moving image data for the second 10 minutes, the moving image data for the first 10 minutes cannot be reproduced by the digital camcorder. Consequently, the moving image data for the first 10 minutes cannot be immediately confirmed. Moreover, in the case where photography is carried out with a digital camera using a recording medium for up to 24 images, only 24 images can be confirmed with the digital camera. Therefore, as in the case of the moving image data described above, image data stored in a data storing apparatus cannot be confirmed immediately.